


insufferable, lovable

by taeildo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, and he might be but for all the right reasons, chenle is mentioned, donghyuck is the loveable shit we all know and adore, renjun thinks god is plotting against him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 15:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11443986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeildo/pseuds/taeildo
Summary: “I despise you more than any other human I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. You’re loud and obnoxious and don’t care about anybody except yourself. You also act like you have the mental capacity of a five-year-old, just so you know.”“Are you flirting with me? I think you’re flirting with me, Renjun.”





	insufferable, lovable

Renjun had come to the conclusion that he had the worst luck in the entire world (and honestly, universe wouldn’t be pushing it either). The reason you ask? Well, that was simple; he was stuck in a lift with none other than Lee Donghyuck.

Looking back on things, it was partially his own fault for making the bad decisions that lead up to this very moment, but he wasn’t about to admit that to anyone, especially the boy who was sat less than three feet away from him. Maybe, Renjun mused, if he hadn’t bailed on his roommate Jeno and his boyfriend Jaemin, who were out right now probably having the time of their lives at some house party thrown by a guy called Jaehyun, he too could be enjoying himself and downing alcohol like there’s no tomorrow. But the thing was, Renjun wasn’t much of a _party_ guy, much less when half his university’s students were probably attending, invite or not, so that Saturday night he had decided to go to the cinema alone.

Despite the endless amount of teasing he received from his dreadful friends, Renjun really enjoyed watching movies by himself for several reasons; firstly, he could leave the flat when the sexual tension between Jeno and Jaemin got too much for even _him_ to handle and have a place to go. Second, as a resident movie head he appreciated the whole cinema experience from the slightly too old popcorn to the plush red rows of seats, especially when they were empty as it meant Renjun could openly sob at children’s movies, free of judgement. (Once he’d attended the first screening of Toy Story 3 with a theatre packed full of young children and their parents, which was inevitably a mistake because Renjun cried so much the mother sat next to him offered him a packet of tissues, telling him to keep them with a half concerned, half disgusted face; never again). Lastly, Renjun liked to go to the cinema on his own because it meant he didn’t have to discuss the film afterwards with his friends, who quite frankly, knew nothing about what made a good film, and it gave Renjun a stress ulcer trying to convince Chenle that The Lord of The Rings was the best movie franchise of all time. Renjun could be rather overbearing and intense when arguing his point so to keep himself and all his friends happy, these were the arrangements he stuck to religiously.

He was feeling pretty happy on his walk back to his building as he’d just watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone—a classic, and it meant the other seven movies would be played consecutively every Saturday—Renjun couldn’t think of a better scenario. The red head had even gone to the effort of taking a detour on his journey home to buy himself and Jeno a cookie from their favourite coffee place and treated himself to a hazelnut latte, the only coffee he could drink without cringing. So, needless to say Renjun was in a very good mood.

This however, was about to change very quickly.

As soon as he entered his building’s entrance, Renjun made for the lift because he was too tired to attempt climbing seven flights of stairs despite needing the cardio as his exercise routine was basically none existent. Pushing the button labelled ‘7’, he leaned against the cool, metal walls of the lift, exhaling a deep sigh as the reality of his tiredness hit him. It was kind of pathetic to be ready for sleep before 11pm on a Saturday night but Renjun had always been old before his time, and it didn’t hurt to get your nine hours in where you can, especially when his school responsibilities kept him from doing so most of the time. He was busy dreaming about the comforts of his warm, faithful bed when the lift stopped on the second floor, doors sliding open to reveal the bane of Renjun’s existence, Lee motherfucking Donghyuck. This guy had made it his personal mission to disrupt his life wherever possible since he’d moved next door to his and Jeno’s flat five months ago.

The boy’s rooms were connected by one, cheaply built, thin wall, meaning 95% of the time it felt like Renjun was sat in the same room as the loud and obnoxious boy, which was really inconvenient when he was trying to complete essays or binge watch tv shows on Netflix, and generally just living his life because he was never _truly_ alone. He had tried multiple times to get his neighbour to stop singing along to his music at 2am on a Wednesday, or to not try making conversation with Renjun when he specifically told Donghyuck to please be quiet as he needed to concentrate. All his attempts had failed miserably and now all he could resort to was banging on the wall and telling his wall buddy to not so politely fuck off—to which Donghyuck would cackle loudly at and continue to be as loud as ever.

Upon seeing Renjun, Donghyuck grinned deviously, slithering into the lift next to him like a snake eyeing up its next kill and oh god, did Renjun want to get out of there. He tried his best to avoid having to acknowledge his neighbour, opening and closing apps on his phone in an attempt to look like he was busy--as if Donghyuck himself couldn’t see _exactly_ what he was doing from where he was stood, Renjun believed that ignorance was bliss-- and keeping his whole body turned away from the brown-haired boy, a clear sign initiating conversation was the last thing Renjun wanted. (He couldn’t help to subtly stare at Donghyuck through the mirror though, drinking in his tight, blue jeans with holes in the knees; Renjun had never seen knees as an attractive feature before but his opinion was easily swayed at the sight of Donghyuck’s beautiful knees and surrounding muscular, tan legs. Appalled at himself he tried to backtrack, reassuring himself the reason he’d thought that was his brain’s lack of sleep, and _not_ Renjun’s opinion.

Turns out he wasn’t being as subtle as he thought because as his eyes raked up Donghyuck’s long torso, clad in a plain white shirt, and up to his face, said boy was already looking at him and they made eye contact in the lift’s mirror.

As if Renjun wasn’t suffering enough through his embarrassment alone, the lights inside the lift suddenly went out, leaving the pair submerged in darkness, the ascend stopping. Renjun let out a small yelp and he reached out to grab onto Donghyuck’s hand in fear, the action not registering in his head that was clouded with claustrophobia.

“Lee Donghyuck, you better stop playing around right now and get me the hell out of this lift.” He almost yelled, still clinging onto said boy for dear life.

“What do you mean, stop playing around? I haven’t touched a thing!” Donghyuck _did_ yell back at him, clearly mad at the accusation that he’d caused this sudden halt.

Renjun was confused. He knew Donghyuck, and he was known for pulling off pranks on a weekly basis whether it be to his friends or complete strangers, and honestly? Renjun would not put this one past him; he must have interrogated Jeno to find out his fears, and of course because his best friend was a traitor who thought their rivalry was “petty and childish” and would be more than willing to fraternize with the enemy. Jeno would sell Renjun to the devil for a digestive and Renjun despised him. “Wait, so you didn’t press the emergency stop button when I wasn’t looking?”

He tried to make out Donghyuck’s features in the near pitch black, squinting his eyes, looking up at the taller boy (still holding his hand, but a lot less firmly) but it was near impossible. Donghyuck brought his phone up to their faces, screen illuminating light in a small area, enough for them to make eye contact clearly. “Yes, dick, why would I want to be stuck in here with you when you'd probably yell at me for breathing too loud? Are you sure _you_ didn’t press it so you could check me out some more, huh?”

Okay, so Donghyuck was definitely annoyed at Renjun for jumping to conclusions—which he felt extremely bad for—but the feeling was overruled by the embarrassment that consumed his mind and face, and he was grateful for the poor lighting so Donghyuck couldn’t see the full extent of his blushing. “No, I didn’t thank you very much Mr. Full of Himself.” He retorted.

“Right,” Donghyuck huffed, “now that we’ve figured that out, why are we stuck in the lift and why have the lights gone out?” Renjun honestly had no real answer for that.

“Power cut? It’s not like it’s never happened before, remember when we had no electricity or hot water the day before Christmas eve and we had to all gather in the lobby wearing our pyjamas at 8am so we’d be warm whilst it was fixed?” They both shared a fond chuckle at the memory as they pictured the buildings residents in festive jumpers and tartan pants, passing round mugs of tea and making forced conversation about how they weren’t going home to their families for the festive season.

An awkward silence filled the air once the laughter dissipated, and Renjun sighed internally as he realised he didn’t know how long he was going to have to spend with his sworn enemy and worst nightmare inside this dark, cramped and confined space. Was this God’s way of punishing him for reading Jeno’s essay in their shared class for inspiration? Because Renjun swore it didn’t class as cheating he just needed some help with his writer’s block and Jeno’s laptop had been sitting _right there,_ taunting him almost, like forbidden fruit from the garden of Eden.

Amidst this inner battle, Donghyuck had plonked himself on the floor of the lift, back leaning against the back wall and began to play a game of Tetris on his phone. Noticing the sudden shift in lighting, Renjun turned to find the boy, only to find he was no longer stood next to him and he began to panic. Had Donghyuck found a way out without telling him? Did he secretly know how to teleport and decided to leave Renjun to fend for himself? Before he could do anything too dramatic though, Donghyuck spoke up, “Down here, idiot.”

“Oh.” Renjun said when he realised, once again embarrassed by his own actions.

“Well?” Donghyuck asked expectantly when Renjun stared down at his shoes, or at least he thought they were, it was hard to make out anything in the darkness that surrounded them.

“Well, what?” he retorted, none the wiser to what Donghyuck seemed so worked up about.

“Well, are you going to sit next to me or stand there like a fool?”

“I…don’t really know how to respond to that.” The red head admitted, gnawing on a thumbnail.

Donghyuck threw his hands up in the air, “Oh my god, you’re hopeless.” He tugged hard on Renjun’s left leg, causing him to lose his balance and topple over, landing funny with his legs twisted in an awkward position. He lay defeated in a heap next to Donghyuck’s giggling form for a few seconds, trying to control the rage that bubbled up inside him. At this point though, Renjun was so tightly wound from the stress of being stuck inside this lift, that this was the last straw that tipped the scales of rationality and civility inside him.

“I despise you more than any other human I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. You’re loud and obnoxious and don’t care about anybody except yourself. You also act like you have the mental capacity of a five-year-old, just so you know.”

“Are you flirting with me? I think you’re flirting with me, Renjun.”

Renjun was out of breath at his outburst of rage, breathing heavily through his nose as he glared at ceiling of the lift, but that soon changed as he immediately directed his glare at the Devil himself. “What? Did you just listen to a word I said?” He was flabbergasted by Donghyuck’s words and what on earth could possibly make him think such an untrue, delusional scenario? It was beyond him.

“Yes, I did Renjun and honestly, it sounded a lot like you’re sexually frustrated because of me, and that was your way of sending me a sign. Who knows, maybe by the time we’re rescued from this lift, I’ll have been swayed.” If Renjun had thought Donghyuck was made up of arrogance before, he was 100% certain of it now.

 Unable to conjure a clever enough retort to Donghyuck's foolishness, Renjun merely rolled his eyes and untangled himself from where he was still lay on the floor; his bag strap had twisted around his torso during his tumble, giving him one more thing to fumble with, grunting with frustration as he pulled it over his head and dumped it next to Donghyuck before shuffling back to lean against the wall beside the younger, who had gone back to playing his game of Tetris.

Remembering the cookies he had purchased earlier, Renjun let out a small squeal of delight and delved inside to retrieve the treats—white and milk chocolate chip with a soft biscuit, just the way he liked it. He began to nibble on his like a hamster as so to save every morsel, not even noticing the pair of eyes watching him curiously as he ate until he was half way through. 

"Can I help you?" He asked, suddenly feeling self conscious eating in front of Donghyuck. Huh, he thought as he stared right back, cookie still at his mouth, have his features always been this soft and pretty?

"Erm...I kind of haven't eaten since breakfast, any chance you want to share that cookie with a poor, hungry soul." This was the first time Renjun had ever heard Donghyuck's voice so gentle and sweet and it made his heart melt a little as he pitied the brown-haired boy (who was currently pouting at him to further argue his cause Renjun supposed). 

Feeling like he should make up for his less than civil behaviour that his mother most certainly wouldn't be proud of, he took the other cookie out his bag, the one intended for Jeno, and handed it to the tan boy. Renjun argued that Donghyuck needed it more than Jeno, who was currently out getting shitfaced and probably wouldn't remember Renjun texting him that he'd bought him a cookie for when he got home, so what harm could it do? "Thank you so much, oh my god." Donghyuck almost moaned as he spoke with his mouthful, spitting crumbs everywhere. "This is amazing."

Charming, he thought, but held back any comments in order to be kinder to his neighbour. His words from before echoed in his ears: _why would I want to be stuck in here with you when you'd probably yell at me for breathing too loud?_ Was Renjun really that bad? He didn't mean to be so short tempered when it came to Donghyuck, it's just he was easy to mess with and Donghyuck loved to push peoples buttons, the pair we're honestly doomed from the start, but Renjun felt like some sort of formal apology was in order.

"Hey...Donghyuck?" 

Donghyuck, who had finished off the cookie and was wiping crumbs from the sides of his pink, full lips, glanced over at Renjun raising his eyebrows, "Yes?"

"I, well I actually just wanted to say that, I'm sorry for always yelling at you. I don't know why I'm so hard on you, it's just easy to take my frustrations out when you're  _there_ just singing or making noise, and it's not fair to you, so...I hope you can forgive me?" His voice sounded weird even to him, so god knows how Donghyuck took that, whether he thought it was sincere enough. He stuck his hand out in order to show he was serious about it, that he wanted Donghyuck to know he was genuinely sorry for being such a bitchy neighbour. 

He was shocked when Donghyuck accepted his handshake, firmly grasping it in his own, accepting Renjun's words. He was even more shocked however at the fact the lights had come back on, and the lift started to ascend upwards once more. His head snapped up to look at Donghyuck, the both of them shocked at the sudden functionality of the lift, expecting to be stuck in there for a much longer length of time. The doors opened with a ping at the seventh floor, giving the two boys no choice but to stand up and scramble for their things before they ended up stuck in there once again. Once was enough to last Renjun a life time, thank you very much. 

"That was beyond weird." Renjun agreed wholeheartedly, it didn't seem like the rest of the building had suffered a power cut, and the lift only stayed the way it had for about twenty minutes, then miraculously switched back once Renjun and Donghyuck made amends. How peculiar. 

The two walked down the corridor, shortly reaching their front doors, parallel to each other, much like themselves, always co-existing but never physically interacting, until now. Taking it as some sort of sign, Renjun went out on a whim, deciding fuck it, he'd already apologised, why not go one step further?

"Hey, Hyuck?" He called just as he was unlocking his door with obnoxiously decorated keys. Renjun's smile grew into a full on grin.

"Yes?" He replied, stopping in his tracks, returning the smile just as wide.

Renjun inhaled, building up the nerve to ask before he chickened out. "Do you want to go and see a movie tomorrow? As in, with me? I have a loyalty card so I can get us in cheap, and yeah, you really don't have to, it was just a suggestion-" His rambling was cut off when Donghyuck interrupted him.

"I'd love to, Renjun." This time he was the one blushing, yet another first for Renjun to witness. His heart felt like it might just explode with fondness.

"You will? Oh, I didn't expect you to say yes, erm, I'll call round tomorrow? Around 3, does that sound good?"

They were both stood there in the hallway, grinning at each other like a pair of idiots, but it didn't matter how silly they looked when they had resolved their past issues, all thanks to a bloody  _lift_ of all things. 

"It sounds more than good. Great, even. Goodnight Renjun, sleep well. I promise I'll keep the noise down." Donghyuck teased, still smiling. Renjun unlocked his own front door, sliding off his shoes on the rack, before popping his head back around the corner. 

"I promise to keep my shouting to a minimum too. Goodnight Donghyuck." He said, gently shutting his front door, leaning against it in exhilaration.

Did Renjun just ask his arch nemesis out? He thinks so. It felt liberating, and he couldn't wait to see him again the following day—something he'd never pictured thinking before. Despite his previous tired state, Renjun felt wide awake as he lay in bed not ten minutes later, willing himself to fall asleep so the hours between now and when he'd be with Donghyuck again would pass quicker. He sent Jeno one final text before he went to sleep, knowing he wouldn't be back for hours, possibly not till the next morning if he stayed at Jaemin's, and he turned over, drifting off quicker than usual. 

   


_I'm thinking of taking the lift more often._

   


**Author's Note:**

> hi there friends, i havent posted in forever and all my wips are gross and too long so i wrote this today in hopes it will stop my writers block for everything else i have on the go. i hope you enjoyed the renhyuck i Love them together plus writing renjun is always fun hehe my angel<333 the ending to this is kinda meh bc im rly bad at those but if you managed to sit through that drabble, thank you v much!!  
> as always comments and kudos are appreciated id love to know your thoughts! have a lovely day/night
> 
> disclaimer: just so you know this is /my/ fic and /my/ interpretation of the nct members so im sorry if you dont see eye to eye with me on some details but this is how i wanted it in this >aged up< fic and im happy with the results for the most part. as always constructive criticism is welcome but other than that pls dont bother leaving negative comments as i wont be responding, thank you!


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